Today's Guest: Jeffrey Gurian, co-author (with Richie
Tienken), Make 'Em Laugh: 35 Years of the Comic Strip, the
Greatest Comedy Club of All Time!

Watch this exclusive Mr. Media interview with Jeffrey
Gurian by clicking on the video player above!

Mr. Media is recorded live before a studio audience
of people who passed Lucien Hold’s audition and still break into a
cold sweat thinking about how stressful it was… in the NEW new
media capital of the world… St. Petersburg,
Florida!

Order 'Make 'Em Laugh: 35 Years of the Comic Strip, the
Greatest Comedy Club of All Time!' by Jeffrey Gurian and Richie
Tienken, available in print or e-book from Amazon.com by clicking
on the book cover above!

There are a lot of legendary comedy clubs in America and they
come with equally colorful founders: Budd Friedman and the Improv;
Mitzi Shore and the Comedy Store; Rick Newman and Catch A Rising
Star; Caroline Hirsch and Caroline’s on Broadway; and Richie
Tienken and the Comic Strip. They all have their own crop of
talented standup comedians devoted to one over the other and one of
them, The Comic Strip, now has a book devoted to lionizing its
greatness.

JEFFREY GURIAN podcast excerpt:
"(The Comic Strip co-founder) Richie Tienken started going to Catch
A Rising Star every night and he saw the place was always packed.
So he thought to himself, 'Hey, there's probably room for another
club.'"

In Make ‘Em Laugh: 35 Years of the Comic Strip, the Greatest
Comedy Club of All Time!, comedian, comedy journalist and
Sirius/XM host of “Comedy Matters” Jeffrey Gurian and Comic Strip
co-founder Richie Tienken interview dozens of comedians about their
experiences and memories of the long-running club. Some, such as
Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock, are reverent about the joint; others
– okay, just Gilbert Gottfried is kind of a jerk about the place.
But he’s Gilbert Gottfried, so I’m not sure what else to expect.
The only voice noticeably missing from this oral history is Eddie
Murphy, who got his start at The Comic Strip and was managed for
many years by Tienken. The issue isn’t addressed, but it seems
likely there are still some rough feelings simmering beneath the
surface.

JEFFEY GURIAN podcast excerpt:
"Things went down that weren't comfortable for Eddie Murphy. People
who were close to him told me that he doesn't like to discuss his
past. We would have loved to have him in the book; he was like a
son to Richie Tienken. They were together many years, but it's
public knowledge that he fired Richie. But Richie took him from his
days on 'Saturday Night Live' through 'Beverly Hills Cop.' That's
how Chris Rock -- who wrote the introduction to 'Make 'Em Laugh' --
got started. It was Eddie that discovered Chris at the Comic Strip
in 1986."

Order ' Filthy, Funny, and Totally Offensive' by Jeffrey
Gurian, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover
above!

But even without Murphy, Make ‘Em Laugh is packed from start to
finish with history, laughs, and more than a few nervous moments –
usually recalled by the comedians in regard to their efforts to be
“passed” by the club’s late manager Lucien Hold. If you love comedy
and enjoy the rare moments when comics such as Lisa Lampanelli, Ray
Romano, George Wallace, Billy Crystal, Jackie “The Jokeman”
Martling from the “Howard Stern Show,” Susie Essman from “Curb Your
Enthusiasm,” “The Daily Show”’s Lewis Black, and Jim Breuer, take
off the mask and talk about things that really matter, you’ll enjoy
reading Make ‘Em Laugh.

JEFFREY GURIAN podcast excerpt:
"Comedy is a very solo business. You're on stage alone. You write
alone. People do improv in groups, but comedy, per se, is alone.
You're going on stage alone, in front of strangers, trying to
convince them that what you think is funny is actually funny. But
there was a camaraderie at the Comic Strip, especially in the early
days, because there were very few comedy clubs then. Now there are
probably 18 club in Manhattan alone. In those days, the comics
banded together and Richie Tienken was a nurturing
force."

Joining me today to talk about his book is co-author Jeffrey
Gurian. Gurian is a man of many hats, including comedian and host
of “Comedy Matters” on Sirius/XM. He also is a regular every Monday
with Sirius/XM’s “Ron & Fez,” talking about the world of
comedy.

About the Podcast

What is Mr. Media® Interviews? The curiosity of Terry Gross, the skepticism of John Oliver, the unpredictability of Howard Stern, and, on occasion, the zen of Jon Stewart! Since February 2007, more than 1,300 exclusive Hollywood, celebrity, pop culture video and audio podcast and print interviews by Mr. Media®, a.k.a., Bob Andelman, with newsmakers in TV, radio, movies, music, magazines, newspapers, books, websites, social media, politics, sports, graphic novels, and comics!